Homeschool Planning Guide:
Five Steps to a Great Year
Homeschooling comes with so much freedom. But…so much freedom can often lead to being overwhelmed by decision fatigue!
Here are our top five suggestions for planning a great school year.
Get the guide:
Download our planning worksheet to fill out as you plan your school year.
Navigation:
Use the buttons below to jump to a specific section.
Step 1: Assess and Reflect
The first step in the homeschool planning guide is figuring out where you are now. Because homeschooling is a natural extension of parenting, a successful plan will consider your family life as a whole.
Evaluate each child’s current strengths and weaknesses and whether they are growing in each area. For older kids, sit down and fill out the worksheet together. Kids are more likely to participate cheerfully when they are part of the process 🙂
We recommend planning your homeschool year assessing four areas: academic, health, character, and social.
What to consider when assessing for your new school year:
Academics
- Are they meeting their growth goals? If you have them, we recommend starting with their most recent, previous MAP Growth score reports.
Health
- Is your family getting enough exercise?
- Are they enjoying it?
- What about sleep?
- Are there any medical needs that need to be accommodated?
Character
- Are there any issues that need attention, or topics they are ready to learn more about?
- Do they have strengths you would like to encourage?
Social
- Are you striking the right balance with social activities?
- Are they happy?
- Finding meaningful connections?
Step Two: Set Priorities
As you plan your homeschool, your priorities will vary dramatically from child to child and year to year. For a kindergartner, your primary focus may be social, while with older kids, academics will likely play a larger role. For elementary school, you may prioritize exploring interests, while in high school you may be focused on completing the required coursework for college.
Sit down with your spouse or a close friend and discuss your observations from step 1 and your long-term goals for each child, and decide what to prioritize this year. Make this year’s goals about this year’s need. You may want to focus on supporting your child through a transition like the birth of a new sibling, moving, starting new as a homeschooler, or going through a medical crisis. Balance developing their strengths and attending to weaknesses. Think about what kind of learning works best for them, and what they need to be happy and relaxed.
For teens and independent tweens, be sure to include them in the process— they may surprise you with what they want to take on! Homeschooling works best when parents lead by example and are learning and growing, so fill one out for yourself too 😀
What to consider when brainstorming your priorities for the school year:
Main Priority
Looking at your assessment from Step One, what can you address over the next year that will make the biggest difference for them? This will be a very personal choice. If you decide to focus on a weakness, be sure to balance it with plenty of time in areas of strength.
Needs
Academic, Health, Character, Social – what must happen for this to be a successful year? This would include state requirements and family priorities.
Wants
Things you would like to include if time and budget allows.
Stop
Things that don’t work for this child, or your family, that you want to be sure to avoid.
Step Three: Find Resources
Now that you know what your homeschool planning guide goals are, it’s time to look for resources, and brainstorm. As you are thinking about how to meet each child’s goals, look for ways to meet multiple goals at once.
For example, starting a history-themed book club could encourage a reluctant reader, act as your history program for the year, and provide social time. You could study nature or geology while hiking.
As you make choices, consider how they impact your overarching priority for the year. Not every choice will be able to incorporate your top priority (sometimes a math curriculum is just a math curriculum), but work it in where you can, and try not to undermine it.
Where to find homeschool resources:
In-person Homeschool Classes
- Local Homeschool Co-ops
- YMCA
- Local Businesses offering Afterschool Classes
- Museums & Zoos
- Recommendations from Local Homeschoolers
Online Homeschool Classes
- Outschool.com
- Individual Providers
Affordable, Printed Curriculum
- Local Used Curriculum Sales
- Craigslist
- Facebook Marketplace
- eBay
Online Curriculum
- RainbowResource.com
- Amazon
- Direct from Publishers
Step Four: Put It All Together
Now that you have lots of options, it’s time to choose which work together best for each child. Start with things you are sure you will continue from the previous year, then move on to meeting needs from the priority guide.
As you add to your plan, consider how your addition impacts the overarching priority, and whether it fits into your schedule and budget.
Be sure to leave room in both your schedule and budget to allow for adjustments later.
Step Five: Assess and Adjust
Now that you have a homeschool planning guide, you need to be sure to check periodically that things you have chosen are working the way you envisioned and meeting the needs you intended them to meet. It can be easy to feel like the key to a successful year is making your kids work through your curricula, but it’s most important to make the curricula work for you.
Set aside time once a month to go over your plan for each child and assess how well each resource on the list is working, and whether together, they are supporting your overarching priority. Then, make adjustments.
Take the time to notice what is working well and celebrate successes and highlights 😀
Adjustment Suggestions
- Adjust the pace
- Cut out busywork
- Add more repetition/practice
- Team up with friends to make a “club”
- Swap out bookwork for hands-on activities
- Do the work at a different time or in a different place
If small adjustments don’t help, swap it out for something else – either one of the resources you didn’t choose from step 2, or something new.
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